Hey guys and gals. I recently acquired my father's 2001 7.3 and I am beyond anxious to start tinkering with it! I am new to the 7.3 and diesels in general. I am sure there are a few mods that are a MUST when it comes to these trucks. I'm sure opinions are going to differ a bit but I'm looking for some input. I'm assuming a chip/tuning is one of the top must haves, followed by a better exhaust. I will probably go with a 6 position PHP chip since I have their tunes on my 2004 F150 and I have been quite happy with them/their reputation. Other than those two things I am kinda leaning towards some appearance mods such as 05+ headlights, a grille change, 08+ towing mirrors, 08+ tail lights. It needs a tailgate so I would like to go with a new "Super Duty" stamped tailgate (possible with man step?)....etc
SO I guess what I am getting at is after all of your guys' experience what would you consider the top 5 must have mods on these 99-04 style 7.3s? Am I on the right track? Any little mods/fixes that will help avoid issues and make life a lot easier down the road? Thanks for any input! And I apologize if I missed a thread that covers this exact topic.

Still trying to learn all I can coming from the half ton gasser world into the big leagues

If you're going to turn it up a bit, one suggestion is to have a way to monitor stuff. Whether you go with a ScanGuage or A-pillar gauges, getting additional info is good. Popular things to watch are EGT, Boost and Trans temp. I've not used one, but the Scangauge will monitor more stuff. Perhaps some one who's used it can fill you in better.

I would say the Greatest shortcoming is the 4r100. Be good to your trans That means fluid changes, Upgraded cooler (the 6.0 being the obvious choice), maybe a ValveBody, converter if you're really serious...

The engine is pretty detuned, the PHP will make it come alive! But here you have a decision to make. If you plan to do Real engine mods (and spend REAL $$$) do everything else first and wait until you buy the injectors (which will require the tuning) and get the "Custom Tunes". If you just want to "wake it up" then you can maybe just get Gauges & tuning for the biggest advancement now and slowly add all the other stuff as you can afford to.

Welcome there are quite a few threads on the basic mods ideas but IMO I'd do the 6637 cold air intake swap. The stock air box is terrible at filtration and flow. 6637 is a NAPA part number for a paper conical filter that with a piece of 4" od exhaust pipe and some trimming of the bottom half of the stock air box works great. Not a true CIA but it flows and filters much better than stock at about a third the price of aftermarket cai . Then it's all uphill from there. Have fun

Awesome. Thanks for the input guys! I had put thought to the gauges, especially once I tune it I feel that its a must to be able to monitor everything. Just forgot to mention that in the initial post

See....Stuff like "Hutch and Harpoon mod" and ending the "FRX and HPX" are the exact reasons I posted this thread! Great info to have and stuff I would never know about coming from the half ton gas world!
And thanks for the intake idea. Sounds like an easy/cheap way to better the breathing as opposed to paying too much for an aftermarket intake! I purchased an AFE stage 2 for my F150 and afterwards wished I had saved the moolah and just did the simple cheap intake mod similar to the one listed here.

The trans was something I was curious about. In my experience these Ford transmissions can be finicky. I lost the trans in my F150 at 100k miles. And not due to a lack of maintenance....
What are thoughts on this trans with 180k miles on it (unknown maintenance on it)? worth upgrading at this point or go with what I got until something bad happens?

And for the time being I don't plan on spending "real $" I would just like to have a strong running daily driver thats reliable without getting into big time mods/$. I know you can only have two at a time of the following 3...cheap/fast/reliable

But I'm not looking to be blowing doors off of the competition at this point. This truck is going to be driven a lot and occasionally hauling a 21 ft toyhauler weighing only 7k lbs loaded for potentially long distances. My dream of one day owning a muscle car will eventually feed my speed/power hunger...not this truck

The trans was something I was curious about. In my experience these Ford transmissions can be finicky. I lost the trans in my F150 at 100k miles. And not due to a lack of maintenance....
What are thoughts on this trans with 180k miles on it (unknown maintenance on it)? worth upgrading at this point or go with what I got until something bad happens?

I've got the same amount of miles on my trans with plans to do the 6.0 trans cooler swap and a BTS valve body all while saving for a built BTS trans. My trans shifts fine it just will hit 3rd hard sometimes and inconsistently.

Sounds like you have good plans. I came from an 06 f150 to this 01 f250. Gryphons are highly regarded on the f150 forums. I had diablosport on my f150. Went off of all the positive things I had heard about php on the f150 forums and around here and bought the Phoenix. Just installed Monday and wow did it wake the truck up.

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